Saturday, October 10, 2026
The oldest pub in Swansea and the secret tunnel
He writes that the name is a nod to the legend that St Peter held the keys to the gates of heaven. It is a clue to the building's godly past:
The building it self was built by Bishop Henry de Gower (Bishop of St Davids) in 1330, not as an inn but an almshouse and early hospital annexed to a monastic cell. The charter of 1332 says that it was established for ‘the support of other poor chaplains and laymen deprived of bodily health.’ It was not only there to look after people taken ill or injured, but to support the destitute, poor and starving.
The institution must have had some significant patronage, as it survived right up until the Reformation and the dissolution of monasteries in 1536. It was then confiscated by the Crown and sold to Sir George Herbert, who was a very powerful and rather unscrupulous man, descended from a family of ‘Marcher’ lords. And to make matters worse, he was from Cardiff.
He was a man of very different moral fibre to Henry de Gower, and as there was no money to be made from feeding the starving or tending to the sick, he closed down the hospital and almshouse and broke the estate up, turning the old buildings into shops and an inn. Later all the other buildings were demolished, but the inn thrived.
By the beginning of the twentieth century the pub was very dilapidated and run down. and its origins had largely been forgotten, so it was a very brave undertaking to get it all restored and renovated. But when the rendering got stripped away, to the delight of the owner who oversaw the work, a lot of the original features, like the stone arched windows and medieval timber, were re-discovered. The two bays on the St Mary Street side were added onto the original building in the seventeenth century, and it is believed that when they were built, they contained two narrow shops separated by a passageway which ran to the back of the building.
Inside there are some lovely features. The massive ceiling beams tell a story of all the walls and partitions that have been added and taken away in the last 700 years, and there are fragments of medieval roof trusses on either side of a small seating area in the lounge.
The layout of the pub today suggests that this part of the original building had two uses. The old hall would have been located on the first floor, which would have been a cleric’s living accommodation. Meanwhile below would have been part of the old hospital, possibly a ward.
But not everything is as it is seen. Wales-on-line reports that there is a secret tunnel stretching from St Mary Street as far as Wind Street and possibly to Cross Keys itself, which has been hidden for 200 years:
Historian Gerald Gabb has cast doubt on the theory that the tunnel was used for smuggling, suggesting instead it might have connections to an ancient hospital. "History always shocks you, I would be surprised if the tunnel was used for smugglers," he remarked.
He added: "I'm not saying that it is impossible, but you are close to the centre of town." Gerald pointed out the historical significance of the area, noting, "An open air market was above us many years ago and the town hall. This isn't the sort of place where you would try and sneak stuff in."
Expressing his surprise at the tunnel's existence, he mused: "You might look at St Mary's Street today and think it's just an alley but really it was one of the main streets in Swansea. It was the way to the church. It has some of the oldest things in Swansea, the castle is just up there and if you go down to the bottom you come to The Cross Keys.
"If you look at the windows by the doors of the pub, they are from 1332. It could be that these tunnels have something to do with what The Cross Keys used to be, which was St David's hospital."
He concluded by explaining the hospital's extensive reach: "It was a religious thing where older people were looked after by priests, It had land all the way from Princess Way to the Uplands so it could have easily spread up here," he said.
We will never know for sure of course, but this sounds like a plausibke explanation to me.
Labels: lochist
